PDA, GPS how?

Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2003 12:35 pm

I like the idea of downloading cache pages to my PDA and GPS. I am aware of the websites for Spinner and Cachemate and others. Perhaps I am feeble of mind, but it all seems mind numbing to me.
Is there a site that describes in detail how to do this and what to download? A flowchart with shiny pictures would be nice. <grin>
Thanks in advance.
Rick

Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2003 2:05 pm

As simple as I can make it (presuming it is a Pockets Windows PDA):

Get a query from Geocaching.com
Put the file in the same subdirectory as Spinner
Hold your mouse key down on the file and drag it over the top of Spinner.
Spinner will automatically download it all to a file in the directory called Cache
Move files from cache to your PDA

Might be easier but thats how I do it.

Joined: 2003-09-10 Posts: 1263 Location: Bristol WI

I have been using GPX Spinner and Plucker for about 3/4 of my finds. There is a good webpage for setting it up here- http://b.hammond.home.mchsi.com/paperless.html

Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2003 7:08 pm

Thanks guys!!
Shiny pictures and everything! I'll give it a try and hopefully I won't hurt myself.

Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2003 10:40 pm

You don't need those programs and that might be what is making it confusing for you. The basic mobipocket reader is free adn works well. I'd suggest working with that first. Once you use that, then if you want to explore those other programs, it might fall into place then. I've tried them and have stayed with mobipocket reader.

Joined: 2003-09-10 Posts: 1263 Location: Bristol WI

Maybe you have had better luck, I found that the Mobipocket reader ran very slow on my Handspring, and did not have all the capabilities for re-arranging waypoints and making the waypoint names something that made sence to me on the road. I can also choose how many pages deep to download for each cache page (to get all the logs if I choose to) and even follow offsite links for those caches that require it. GPX Spinner and Plucker are free. There is a little learning curve in the initial setup, but once it's done, it pays off. It take me less than 5 minutes to load 500 waypoints from a Pocket Query to my PDA & GPS be on a roadtrip.

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2003 4:42 pm

I have to agree with Cathunter. I have found Mobipocket to be worthless for geocaching. It's search features are terrible and it VERY slow. On the other hand, I have found GPX spinner to be an essential tool for producing mobile pages for my Windows CE PDA. Items are arranged how I want to see them and can be customized to show the items you deem important. We hunted 27 caches and found 26 on Saturday and used the PDA repeatedly. When we tried using Mobipocket it would take us forever to get the information on the cache. With a web browser and the spinner output files, it takes only a few seconds. The hint, nearest caches, etc. are links right on the cache page.

Try it, you'll like it.

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2003 7:32 pm

It would be nice if we could all copy/paste the text from our spinner.ini files in this thread.

By changing a few lines, you can really change quite a few things in the output....

I'm not sure I really want all the "gcxxxx" numbers to be changed to "mcxxxx" etc.. But now that I think about it, I bet you guys are loading the spinner.gpx file into your gpsr's. Then it would all make sense... Comparing what I see on the map page of my Plat....

Besides, I may be able to pick up a couple of tricks the rest of you are using....

Here's a portion of the way I have it now......

#**********************************************************
#
# This section tells Spinner how to spin your GPX file(s).
#
# The following Format Specifiers can be used below in
# the Waypoint_Format and Desc_Format :
#
# %C Code (as specified in the table below)
# %Y Cache type, spelled out.
# %I ID - the xxxx part of GCxxxx.
# %N Name of cache, smart truncated.
# %O Owner.
# %P Placed by.
# %D Difficulty, in original x.x format.
# %d Difficulty, shortened to 1 character, according to
# the following equation: %d = (%D - 0.5) * 2
# Thus, 1=1, 1.5=2, 2=3 ... 4.5=8, 5=9
# %T Terrain, in original x.x format.
# %t Terrain, shortened to 1 character, like %d above.
# All other characters used literally.
#
# First is the table defining the %C code:

Traditional_Prefix = GC
Multi_Prefix = GC
Virtual_Prefix = GC
Locationless_Prefix = GC
Letterbox_Prefix = GC
Event_Prefix = GC
CITO_Event_Prefix = GC
Webcam_Prefix = GC
Unknown_Prefix = GC

# The following prefix will override the above cache
# prefixes if the cache size is Micro.
# (The default is no change - use prefix from above.)

Micro_Prefix =

# The following prefix will override the above cache
# prefixes if the cache contains any travel bugs.
# (The default is no change - use prefix from above.)

TB_Prefix =

# Waypoint is the name for waypoints in your GPS receiver.
# Historically, this has been the equivalent of %C%I
# But you may find it more useful too show the actual
# name of the cache instead. You could also include the
# placer and/or the difficulty/terrain ratings if you
# desire. See the table of Format Specifiers above for
# more information.

Waypoint_Format = %N
Waypoint_Max_Length = 15
Waypoint_Allowed_Chars = +-
# (use \s for space)

# Description is the description of the waypoint in your
# GPS receiver. This is usually shown on the waypoint
# information screen, but not all receivers support it.

Desc_Format = %Y %N %D-%T
Desc_Max_Length = 36
Desc_Allowed_Chars = +-\s
# use \s for space

#Desc_Allowed_Chars = !"#$&\'()*+,-./:;?\s # Garmin GPS V

# You can determine the set of allowable characters by
# entering a waypoint manually into your GPS receiver.
# The on-screen keyboard will show which characters are
# allowed. On some models there is also a 'shift' key
# that enables even more characters. Letters and numbers
# are assumed. Do not include them here.

# Note there is a bug in EasyGPS and ExpertGPS that strips
# off some of these characters when uploading waypoints to
# certain models of GPS receivers.
# If you experience this problem, contact TopoGrafix at
# support2003@easygps.com or support2003@expertgps.com
# Include the model of GPS receiver and the full list of
# allowable characters in your email.

#**********************************************************
#
# This section defines how GPX Spinner will change the
# icon for the various cache types.
#
# The types are evaluated in the order shown here
# (but changing the order here will NOT change the
# order of evaluation.)
#
# Leave a definition blank if you don't want any change
# to take place for that type (e.g. Micro_Not_Found =

Traditional_Not_Found = Geocache
Multi_Not_Found =
Virtual_Not_Found =
Locationless_Not_Found =
Letterbox_Not_Found =
Event_Not_Found =
CITO_Event_Not_Found =
Webcam_Not_Found =
Unknown_Not_Found =

# The following symbols will override the above cache
# symbols if the cache contains any travel bugs.

TB_Not_Found = Hunting Area
TB_Found = Zoo

# The following symbols will override the above cache
# symbols if there are (DNF_Limit) or more 'Not Found'
# log entries.

DNF_Limit = 3
DNF_Not_Found = Cemetery
DNF_Found = Cemetery

What do you have setup for yours?

Billy
Team Flushingrouse

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2003 8:59 pm

quote:
Originally posted by Snoshu:

What do you have setup for yours?

Billy
Team Flushingrouse

I like the standard prefix codes:

Traditional_Prefix = GC
Multi_Prefix = MC
Virtual_Prefix = VC
Locationless_Prefix = LC
Letterbox_Prefix = LB
Event_Prefix = EVNT
CITO_Event_Prefix = CITO
Webcam_Prefix = WC
Unknown_Prefix = UC

And for the description I use:

Desc_Format = %D %T %N
Desc_Max_Length = 16
Desc_Allowed_Chars = +-\s

This setup works nice on our Garmin 76S.

[This message has been edited by TeamLotsacache (edited 11-09-2003).]

Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2003 8:16 am

Suppose I want to add my home coordinates to the spinner file automatically. Anyone help with that?

Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2003 8:51 am

quote:
Originally posted by rpaske:
Suppose I want to add my home coordinates to the spinner file automatically. Anyone help with that?

Modify your gpx_template.gpx in the templates directory to resemble the following:

<% output_filename=spinner.gpx %>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="yes"?>
<gpx
version="1.0"
creator="GPX Spinner %version% - http://www.gpxspinner.com"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/0"
xmlns:topografix="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/Private/TopoGrafix/0/2"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/0 http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/0/gpx.xsd http://www.topografix.com/GPX/Private/TopoGrafix/0/2 http://www.topografix.com/GPX/Private/TopoGrafix/0/2/topografix.xsd">
<desc>Geocache file generated by GPX Spinner</desc>
<author>Lil Devil</author>
<email>lildevil@gpxspinner.com</email>
<time>%current_date_xml%</time>
<keywords><![CDATA[cache, geocache, groundspeak, gpxspinner, spinner]]></keywords>
<bounds minlat="%minlat%" minlon="%minlon%" maxlat="%maxlat%" maxlon="%maxlon%"/>
<% sort caches by ID %><wpt lat="%latitude_raw%" lon="%longitude_raw%">
<time>%hidden_date_xml%</time>
<name>%new_name%</name>
<desc>%new_description%</desc>
<url2>http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=%ID%</url2>
<url>cache/%ID%.htm</url>
<urlname>%name% by %placed_by%</urlname>
<sym>%new_symbol%</sym>
<type>Geocache</type>
</wpt>
<% endsort caches %>
<wpt lat="42.0000" lon="-88.0000">
<ele>263.347200</ele>
<time>2002-12-30T00:53:20Z</time>
<name>HOME</name>
<cmt>30-DEC-02 0037</cmt>
<desc>Home</desc>
<sym>House</sym>
<type>Home</type>
</wpt>
</gpx>

Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2003 11:00 am

lat="42.0000" lon="-88.0000
now, to change format from above to
N4219.987 etc.

any hints?

Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2003 11:10 am

quote:
Originally posted by rpaske:
lat="42.0000" lon="-88.0000
now, to change format from above to
N4219.987 etc.

any hints?

Figured it out! Thanks for the assist. One can use http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~cvm/latlon_find_location.html#address%20location for assistance.

[This message has been edited by rpaske (edited 11-10-2003).]

[This message has been edited by rpaske (edited 11-10-2003).]

Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2003 12:21 pm

quote:
Originally posted by rpaske:
lat="42.0000" lon="-88.0000
now, to change format from above to
N4219.987 etc.

any hints?

Not sure I really understand what you're asking. For converting coordinates, here is the site I use:
http://www.cosports.com/tools/gps_coords.htm

Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2003 12:36 am

Thanks for all the timely advice. I've been meaning to get a PDA to use for geocaching for some time but just never took the time to research a purchase. This morning I got Spinner working on my notebook computer and I was so impressed that I took the advice from the "hammond" site that Cathunter mentioned and I just bought a Palm IIIxe on eBay. cool!